Advancing the Chicago region's supply chain

By Jim Blackmon, President, Carry Transit

Last week I had the opportunity to discuss metropolitan Chicago’s logistics industry with seven County Board chairs and the Deputy Mayor of the City of Chicago. The group convened to consider how counties and the city can work together with the private sector to promote the region’s economic growth.

I shared the usual facts – transportation and logistics are a $14 billion industry at the heart of Chicago’s economy, and while we have opportunities we have challenges that include being the third most congested region in the nation. Most important, we need to pay attention to this industry if we are going to keep our regional competitive advantage.

This was a group that was looking for action, and I was proud to tell them about Supply Chain Innovation Network of Chicago (SINC). Like the business leaders from trucking, rail, supply chain and manufacturing that have come together to form SINC, these elected officials want to know what they can accomplish. Here are a few of the suggestions I shared:

We need to rationalize our truck permitting system. If you are a trucker with a oversize load and you want to get it from Will County to McHenry County, you may have to pass though a dozen communities and apply for a half dozen special permits. Counties are in a great position to work with municipalities and move us toward a one-stop-shop for permitting. We should also consider high weight payload zones – we’re seeing great results in places like the Ports of Los Angeles and Stockton California.

The region should promote off peak delivery. By encouraging delivery during off-hours, we would reduce costs and congestion, improve air quality, and help the economy. New York is doing it, and proving that the savings to the metropolitan area and businesses are huge.

Virtually all the segments of this industry are crying for better trained employees. We need a serious, concerted effort to build our workforce, expanding on programs like Olive Harvey College’s transportation, distribution and logistics specialty, all the way up to getting the top engineers coming out of places like U of I, Northwestern and IIT to focus on our industry.

With SINC’s private sector leadership working with these elected officials I’m optimistic that we can help move some of these agenda items forward sooner rather than later. You can help by joining SINC and helping to move these and other critical agenda items forward. The Chicago region depends on it – and so do our businesses.